Return of Mount Hua Sect - Chapter 336
Wei Lishan kept returning his gaze. He opened his mouth carefully after a long pause, looking at Sect Leader next to him.
“Excuse me… Sect Leader.”
“Hm?”
Making eye contact with Wei Lishan, Hyun Jong inquired.
“What’s the matter?”
“……I think Huayin Sect will take a different route from here on.”
“Hoho. Okay, I see.”
Hyun Jong quietly nodded in response.
“But, Wei Munju.”
“Yes! Sect Leader!”
“Isn’t it not a bad idea to take this opportunity to show your disciples how Mount Hua Sect is?”
“Of course, that’s something that not only I, but also my disciples, would wish for. But if we follow along like this, won’t we become the main mountain burden for no reason….?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Hyun Jong smiled and tried to continue, but someone stepped in from behind.
“How much money did Wei Munju make in Shaolin this time? What a nonsense. Don’t worry about anything.”
“…….”
It was Hyun Young.
Hyun Jong’s face was slightly distorted.
He might be able to say something nice, but why is he talking about money when he opens his mouth like this these days?
No, he used to talk about money whenever he opened his mouth. In the past, he was angry that he didn’t have money, and nowadays, he only opens his mouth about making money.
“But…….”
“Hm?”
“Where did Sodojang go? He didn’t seem to be in sight since this morning.”
Hyun Jong had a bit of a bitter smile when asked by Wei Munju.
“He went to do what he had to do.”
“…….”
The expression seemed heavy, so Wei Lishan couldn’t bear to ask anymore.
“More than that…….”
Hyun Jong glanced behind him.
“The road will be a little rough from now on, so let’s take care of the cart a little more. If there’s a problem with the cart or if the money disappears when he gets back, something terrible might happen.”
Wei Lishan paused for a moment and shivered. Then he quickly nodded loudly.
“Don’t worry. Sect Leader. I will keep even a single coin from flowing out.”
“Please.”
After the conversation with Wei Lishan, Hyun Jong looked at the distant sky.
At that time, Hyun Sang, who was listening quietly next to him, asked.
“Sect Leader.”
“……yes?”
“It’s good to have sent Iseol. But did you really need to send the children together?”
Hyun Jong answered the question with a low voice.
“You should see the children.”
“…….”
“In order to be truly supportive, they need to understand each other. One day those children will lead Mount Hua, so I just hope that they can understand Iseol’s pain.”
Hyun Sang nodded quietly.
‘Iseol-ah…’
Hyun Jong, who closed his eyes still, quietly chanted with his mouth. (Chant for mount hua and other Taoist Sect seems to be Muryangsubul while in Shaolin was Amitabha. A pray, if I might say it so.)
* * *
‘How far are we going?’
Baek Chun looked at Yoo Iseol running ahead with a slight frown. They started early in the morning, but the sun was already slowly setting over Seongsan Mountain.
Nevertheless, Yoo Iseol’s feet seemed to have no intention of stopping.
‘It’s all Mountain.’
Everything in front of them was mountains, so they couldn’t tell where Yoo Iseol was talking about.
Baek Chun once again thought that he knew nothing about Yoo Iseol.
Tang So-so is the daughter of the head of the Tang Family, and Jo-Gol is a son of a merchant from Sichuan. Yoon Jong was an orphan and was picked up by Mount Hua’s Elder, while Chung Myung…….
‘He’s just a beggar. Cho Sam, that little punk.’
But he knew very little about Yoo Iseol.
Yoo Iseol was a person who didn’t talk much about herself. Only after Chung Myung came in did she speak a little better. In the past, it was common for her not to say two or three words for a month.
He thought it was fine as she was also a disciple of Mount Hua, but as he followed her like this, he was curious about her past.
And Chung Myung’s past…….
“…why is so far away?”
“Come down, you punk!”
“Look at this horse talking in human language.”
“Sasuk! This bastard is not getting off my back! Please do something about him!”
‘No.’
‘I don’t want to know his past. I feel like I’m going to explode if I know.’
It was not until the sun was completely over Seongsan Mountain that Yoo Iseol stopped running.
She stood at the feet of a large mountain that looked pretty steep and looked back.
“Here.”
“……do we just have to go up?”
She nodded instead of saying. Baek Chun said willingly.
“Then we will.”
Then Chung Myung opened his mouth.
“What’s the point of running all day to climb the mountain? It’s getting dark.”
“You didn’t run, you punk!”
Chung Myung glanced down as Jo-Gol screamed.
“Sahyung, Sahyung.”
“What?”
“I’m trying to train you because I think your lower body is weak, but if you keep being uncooperative like this, I can even put a suitable rock on you.”
“…I shall take you to the top of the mountain in a cozy and comfortable manner, sir.”
“Tsk.”
Yoo Iseol glanced at Chung Myung and immediately began to climb the mountain.
The rest followed in her footsteps, too.
Tang So-so, right behind her, approached her and asked.
“Sago. Do we have to climb a lot?”
“Not to the top.”
At the calm answer, Tang So-so nodded and looked at Yoo Iseol.
Others may not find much difference in that expressionless face. But in Tang So-so’s eyes, it was clear that her face was getting stiff.
‘I don’t think she’s in a bad mood.’
She feels something complicated at the same time.
Joy. Longing. Pain. Sadness.
She has never seen so many different emotions on Yoo Iseol’s face.
‘What’s in front of us that’s stirring up Sago so much?’
Yoo Iseol has always maintained a firm mind. Didn’t even Chung Myung comment on Yoo Iseol’s attitude as the best in Mount Hua in terms of a swords warrior?
Her curiosity grew bigger and bigger.
Yoo Iseol’s steps became slower and slower as if to answer the curiosity of Tang So-so.
He slowed down the speed and started to walk. Those who followed also kept up with Yoo Iseol.
Step. Step.
As the trees gradually dwindled, the thick forest began to disappear little by little.
Eventually, the sight that came into the eyes of Mount Hua’s disciples was a vast open space with nothing special.
“…Samae?”
Despite Baek Chun’s questioning voice, Yoo Iseol didn’t give a significant answer. Instead, she only walked as if she had been possessed with her eyes fixed on one place.
Baek Chun opened his mouth again, wondering if she hadn’t heard him.
“Samae, what the hell is this place…….”
“Sasuk, just wait.”
But a low voice came from behind his back.
“There…….”
“Hm?”
He narrowed his eyes at Yoon Jong’s voice.
And.
‘Ah…’
He soon shut his mouth.
Where Yoo Iseol was headed, there was a slight bump on the ground. The height was so low that it could not be seen properly unless carefully examined.
“…….”
It was…… a grave.
A small grave was built in the middle of a mountain.
They could see why she had found this place as soon as they saw it.
Srek. Srek.
Every time Yoo Iseol walked, the sound of stepping on grass penetrated everyone’s ears.
The sound of grasshoppers crying.
The sound of the wind passing by.
And the sound of grass being stepped on.
No one could open their mouth hastily.
Soon after, Yoo Iseol arrived in front of the grave, looked at the mound and opened her mouth in a low voice.
“I’m back.”
Her eyes close slowly.
“…Father.”
Crackle.
A bonfire was burning in front of the crumbling hut.
They renovated the hut that is quite far from the grave and simply unpacked their luggage to stay for a day.
“Oh, it’s cold.”
Chung Myung shrugged his shoulders and sat close to the bonfire.
Then he glanced at the hut, which was about to collapse.
How long has it been neglected?
Five years? No, it’s too old for that.
‘I think it’s been at least 10 years.’
There were signs some hands were keeping it to not collapse in the middle, but it was clear that it had been more than a decade since people had not lived in it.
‘In other words, people lived here 10 years ago.’
It’s weird.
It’s not as easy as they think to live in the middle of a mountain. In particular, this was not a suitable land for people to live in. It is where sinners forced themselves to not encounter people or someone who was going to do asceticism.
Chung Myung stared at Yoo Iseol.
And she may have lived here in the past.
Perhaps with the owner of the grave.
Only the sound of the bonfire continued indifferently. No one could bear to open their mouth.
Around the time the atmosphere felt overwhelming, Mount Hua’s disciples, except Yoo Iseol, began to stare at Baek Chun.
‘……what?’
‘Quickly ask.’
‘…….’
After a conversation with his eyes, Baek Chun sighed deeply and opened his mouth with a slightly troubled face.
“Samae.”
“Yes.”
“What about that grave a moment ago?”
“…… It’s my father.”
“Ah, that’s right… um.”
Baek Chun-ah.
‘There! It’s enough, right?’
As he looked around the disciples as if he were asking, everyone opened their ax eyes and shook their heads.
‘Damn things.’
‘What else is there to ask, you punk?!’
Baek Chun hesitated and opened his mouth again.
“So Samae used to live here with your father?”
“Yes.”
It was a short answer. He hesitated a little and then closed his eyes tightly. To be honest, he couldn’t stand it anymore because he was curious about it too.
“It seems like an unsuitable place for people to live, how did you come to live in a place like this?”
Yoo Iseol raised her head. And stared at Baek Chun.
A little bewildered, Baek Chun quickly added.
“N- No. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. It doesn’t matter now that you’re here.”
As soon as the word was over, Yoo Iseol sprang up from her seat.
Baek Chun flinched.
“No, Samae, I…….”
But when she entered the hut, she immediately started digging the floor in one corner.
‘Huh?’
Digging out the floor with her hands, she pulled something out.
It was a half-rotten chest made of wood.
Not minding the dirt on her hands and clothes, she carefully took the chest and set it down in front of the disciples of Mount Hua.
“This is…….”
When everyone looked at it, Yoo Iseol opened the chest.
The chest was full of books.
‘Book?’
‘Is it a martial art book?’
But nowhere in all those books was a title.
Eventually, Yoo Iseol began to take out all the books. It was an indifferent touch.
Her hand, which had put down dozens of books like that, paused slightly at one point. But soon she reached into the chest again.
She came out with two scrolls in her hand.
One of them was in tatters as if it had been torn apart.
Chung Myung’s eyes have narrowed slightly.
There was a black streak in the middle of the rag-like book, he noticed that it was a trace of dried blood.
And the other one…….
“Samae…… What about that?”
A half-burnt book.
No, the paper is hard to be called a book because there are so many burned parts.
On the front, only a few letters that seemed to have been the title remained blurred.
Twenty-Four (이십사(二十四)) and Plum (매(梅)). And Technique (법(法)).
Although it was incomplete, these letters alone gave them a good idea of what the book was about.
“……Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”
Everyone couldn’t hide their surprise.
The secret of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique that they had been searching for so much was here. Of course, more than half of it was burnt down, so it could no longer be called an emergency martial art manual.
She looked at the books in both hands and quietly put them on the floor.
Then she sat down, looked at the bonfire, and finally opened her mouth.
“My father is…….”
Her voice flowed quietly and was a little more subdued than usual.
“My father was a disciple of Mount Hua.”
Yoon Jong swallowed dry saliva.
Yoo Iseol’s distinctive voice felt like sucking him in.
A disciple of Mount Hua who ran away. Who didn’t want to live as a disciple of Mount Hua. The man who left the sect behind and ran away.”
“…….”
“And yet….”
Yoo Iseol closed her eyes still.
“Someone who couldn’t completely forget Mount Hua. He left Mount Hua behind, but couldn’t abandon Mount Hua until the very end. Therefore…”
He was a fool.